"Applegate, Katherine A - Animorphs - 08 - The Alien (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Applegate Katherine A)

Anyway, I had to do a makeup project for
science class. I built a maze for a rat I'd
named Courtney. I mean, I figured an
animal project would be easy for me. I've
been
more animals than a lot of kids have seen.
Courtney was supposed to find her way through the
cardboard maze to the end, where I had placed some
tasty seeds and nuts. Then I would make notes
on her progress. How hard could that be?
Rachel stared at me. She tapped her foot
impatiently. She looked down at her watch.
Then she looked up at the clock on the wall.
"You know, school's been out for ten minutes, and here
I am, still at school. This can't be right. It's
unnatural."
"Why can't she figure out the maze?" I wondered
out loud. "What's the problem?"
"A stupid rat? Er, I mean, maybe you have a
not very smart rat. That could be the subject of your
paper -- "My Dumb Rat.""
"What is the problem with you?" I demanded,
ignoring Rachel and talking directly to the rat.
I took Courtney from her cage and stuck her in the
high-walled maze. "Smell the nuts. Smell the
nuts and then find your way through the maze."
Courtney looked up at me and twitched her
nose.
"That's not an answer," I said. "I
need
this grade. I am not going to try and explain a
D
to my parents just because you can't get it together."
"A D!" Rachel echoed. "You're looking at
a D? No way."
"Rachel, why do you think I'm here? Because I'm
trying to go from an
A
to an
A plus his
Yes. I am looking at a
D.
And I can't bring my parents a
D.
That would mean weeks of them going, "Where did we go
wrong? We must be failing as parents. We have
to spend more time with Cassie, helping her every night with
her homework.""
Rachel shuddered at the absolute horror of that
scenario.